Founded in 1987 by Daniel Johnson, the Texas Early Music Project is dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical music through performance, recordings, and educational outreach.

Seriously. When did this start? Was it the original Black Friday, but a more sophisticated 12 days than 28 - 29 or so? They (“they” being the interwebs) say it might be a derivative of a French folk song—name & date unknown—but The Twelve Days of Christmas was published in London around 1780 in a children's book, Mirth without Mischief. There have been several versions through the centuries, but the version we are used to is the 1909 arrangement by English composer Frederic Austin, which has had a few variations, too. Like most counting songs, this one gets more difficult to keep track of, especially if you’re partying hardy. No, TEMP is not performing this on a Christmas concert. I just thought that we should get to the bottom of this burning question.

Those of a certain age surely remember Alvin and the Chipmunks version. I know, I'm sorry I brought it up.

Tomorrow. More.

TEMP: An Early Christmas in 5 Days. Be wise, guys:get your 8 tix in advance at early-music.org andbe sure to buy 9 TEMP cds at the concerts.That’s it, I’m out of numbers.